Dave Knows Portland

December 9, 1867: Arlington Club Founded

by Leave a Comment

Arlington ClubPortland’s exclusive Arlington Club was founded on December 9, 1867 by thirty-five businessmen who agreed to found a club where they could fraternize for mutual enjoyment and relaxation, and to provide a meeting place for discussing their own and Portland’s destiny. Translation: no women or Jews allowed.

Prominent early members included Simeon Reed, Henry Failing, C.H. Lewis, and John C. Ainsworth. In 1881 George H. Williams, formerly chief justice of the Oregon Supreme Court, U.S. senator, and attorney general of the United States, drafted the articles of incorporation.

The Arlington Club wouldn’t admit jews until the late 1960s after federal judge Gus Solomon criticized the exclusion rules. And not until 1990 did the club permit women to join.

Photo credit: Arlington Club photo by Wikimedia Commons contributer Finetooth used under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

December 8, 1914: Portland Uncle Sams (aka Rosebuds) Play Inaugural Match

by Leave a Comment

Morning Oregonian headline, 9 December 1914The Portland Uncle Sams (also known as the Rosebuds) debuted on December 8, 1914 (Morning Oregonian, 9 December 1914).

Portland dedicated its new Ice Hippodrome last night to make a Vancouver holiday. The ice has been there for a month and thousands have exercised their squeaky joints, but yesterday was the official opening of the Pacific Coast Hockey League. Mayor Albee was there and faced the puck. About 2000 other society functionaries sat about and wondered what it was all about. In fact, it was a gala occasion in everything but one respect – and that was that Portland did not win.. . .

Perhaps 50 per cent of the crowd had never before witnessed a hockey game, and if there were any doubters they came away thrilled and electrified by the exhibition. Portland’s septet had been practicing only one week and occasionally play slackened, but in the main it was sensational quarrelmonging with the inoffensive bit of vulcanized rubber in the role of ye goat.

The final score was Vancouver 6, Portland 3. The Portland team would only two years later be the first American team to play for the Stanley Cup, which alas, they would also lose.

The Ice Hippodrome was located in Northwest Portland at Marshall, Northrup and Twentieth Streets (Morning Oregonian, 30 September 1913). It was home to the Portland Rosebuds, Portland Buckaroos, Portland Eagles & Portland Penguins until 1963, when it was unceremoniously razed.

December 7, 1996: Yaquina Bay Lighthouse Relit

by Leave a Comment

Yaquina Bay Lighthouse (photo by Oregon Attractions on Flickr)The Yaquina Bay Lighthouse on the bay in Newport, Oregon was built in 1871 and decommissioned only three years later. But on December 7, 1996, it was re-lit as a privately maintained aid to navigation.

The light shines with a steady white light from dusk to dawn (and sometimes on dark days, because it is controlled by a photocell.) The light is 161 feet above sea level.

The lighthouse had originally been active only three years due to the construction of the Yaquina Head Light, three miles north, which made it obsolete.

Photo credit: Yaquina Bay Lighthouse by Oregon Attractions on Flickr, used here under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

December 6, 1976: Kitty O’Neil Sets Land Speed Record in Oregon’s Alvord Desert

by Leave a Comment

Article in The Oregonian, 7 December 1976On the alkali flats of southeastern Oregon’s Alvord Desert, deaf stuntwoman Kitty O’Neil set a new women’s land speed record on December 6, 1976.

For one second after she blasted off, the force of acceleration pushed Kitty’s guts gently back against her lungs, but except for this minor discomfort, the ride was a smooth one. Within five seconds she was going 180 mph. In 15 seconds she was a mile down the course, doing 500. Five seconds later she was going 200 mph faster than any landbound woman had traveled before, reaching a speed of about 600 mph and clocking 514.120 through a one-kilometer speed trap.

The international rules for land-speed attempts require the driver to complete a second run in the opposite direction through the same timing trap within two hours. There was almost an hour to spare when Kitty streaked back through the same kilometer in 4.375 seconds (only 24 thousandths of a second slower than her first run) for a two-way average speed of 512.710 mph. [Sports Illustrated, 17 January 1977]

Further reading:

December 5, 2006: New Fort Clatsop Replica Dedicated

by 1 Comment

Heather at Fort ClatsopMembers of The Lewis and Clark expedition spent the winter of 1805-1806 at the hastily constructed Fort Clatsop at the mouth of the Columbia River.

Probably built of fir and spruce logs, the fort measured only fifty feet by fifty feet, not a lot of space for more than thirty people. Nevertheless, it served its purpose well, offering Expedition members shelter from the incessant rains of the coast and giving them security against the Native peoples in the area.

Local community members built a replica of the fort in 1955 to celebrate the sesquicentennial of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Alas, in 2005, just as celebrations of the bicentennial were beginning, the replica fort burnt down. Hundreds of volunteers rebuilt the fort, now a National Memorial, and on December 5, 2006 the new replica fort was dedicated.